East's Rutecki sets career highs, Flames down Billies
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East's Mark Rutecki, right, posted career highs in points (20) and rebounds (15). He also blocked a couple of shots, including one on Williamsville South's Armaan Wood. East beat South, 78-70, last Friday at South.

One of Williamsville East's big men had a stellar game inside against Williamsville South last week but it's not the name high school boys basketball fans would normally expect.

Six-foot-11 junior Mark Rutecki posted career highs with 20 points and 15 rebounds in East's 78-70 win last Friday at Williamsville South. Rutecki also blocked two shots and dished out two assists. East's usual top scorer, Brian Wallden, scored 14 points and 12 rebounds.

"The last time against South I didn't have a big game so I wanted to this game," said Rutecki.

Rutecki certainly did in the second half, scoring 12 of his points in the third quarter on either offensive rebounds or short four-foot jump shots to cut an East 35-31 deficit at halftime to a 48-40 advantage by the end of the third quarter.

On defense, Rutecki helped hold South's Joe Licata to five three-pointers (all in the first half) and Phil Stasiak to six points by extending his long arms and altering their shots.

Williamsville South's Mark Coppola, far right, looks for an open teammate as Williamsville East players defend.

"They don't have two big guys so we brought Wallden out on the post and Rutecki got great position down low," said East coach Dennis Belote.

"Rutecki was the difference," added South coach Al Monaco. "We had no answer for him."

All of East's starters were the ones who scored all of the team's points. In addition to Wallden and Rutecki, Peter Heim and Rick Silvestri each scored 15 points and Kevin Castine had 14. Heim also grabbed eight rebounds, five of which came on the defensive end. Silvestri also dished out six assists and grabbed three rebounds.

South opened the game on fire. Licata hit back-to-back threes and Mark Coppola added a trey to help the Billies jump out to an 11-6 advantage three minutes in. South was outscored 13-9 over the rest of the first quarter but still led, 20-18. The lead changed four times in the second quarter with South ahead, 32-31, by halftime.

East went up by as many as 13, 69-56, in the fourth. Coppola cut it to 77-70 with a coast-to-coast layup with 21.3 seconds but Silvestri hit 1 of 2 free throws with 11 seconds. The Flames made 10 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter and 15 of 20 overall. They also limited its turnovers to 15. They had been averaging 22 per game.

South only turned the ball over eight times and shot decent, including 14 of 32 two-point shots and 12 of 35 from three-point range, but Monaco was not happy with his team's shot selection.

"We passed up on the open threes too many times and instead drove into Wallden and Rutecki," said Monaco.

South also went 6 of 18 from the free throw line, including 5 of 11 in the fourth quarter.

"In a lot of ways, that's the game right there," said Monaco.

Licata led South with 18 points. His five threes gives him 62 for the season, which past Seth Edwards (1997-98) for third all-time in a season and 2007 grad Adrian Wood for 10th all-time.

The 12 threes South made gave the Billies 153 for the season, breaking the school's single-season record of 149 set in 1997-98. The 35 attempts from threes was four shy of tying the mark set in 2001-02 against West Seneca West.

Coppola led South with 17 points, 10 assists and four rebounds. He hit three threes. Coppola's 10 assists gives him 150 for the season, passing himself for second all-time at the school for most assists in a season. He has 293 career assists, fourth all-time at the school.

Armaan Wood had 12 points and four rebounds. Zach Murray (eight points, six rebounds), Stasiak (six points, four rebounds), Brian Webb (six points, five rebounds) and Aaron Adams (made a three) also scored for South.

The loss to East was huge for the Billies. A win would have put them in a tie with Hamburg for first place in ECIC II because Hamburg lost to league opponent Lake Shore, 59-57, in double overtime, on Friday.

South is 7-4 in league play, 11-7 overall. Hamburg is 8-3 in ECIC II, 14-5 overall.

East is 6-5 in the league, 10-8 overall. The Flames opened its week with a 60-48 loss against Hamburg last Tuesday at East.

Belote said his team didn't play horrible; they shot poor. The Flames went 16 for 70 between twos and threes. They were also 12 of 20 from the foul line.

"We had a lot of shots, a lot of open looks at the basket, and couldn't hit anything," said Belote.

Despite its poor shooting woes, East was ahead, 15-10, after the first quarter and, 25-23, at halftime. Hamburg took over at the end of the third quarter with a 43-36 lead.

Belote said his team trailed the entire fourth quarter and every time his team cut its deficit to three or four, Hamburg got the lead up to eight or nine.

Hamburg big man Blake McLimans scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and blocked six shots. McLimans scored two points in the first half.

"We played him tough for the first three quarters but he got some points in the fourth when Wallden left him to try to double team another player," said Belote.

Wallden finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks. He hit two threes. No other East player was in double figures. Heim scored nine. Rutecki and Silvestri each had seven. Castine recorded three.

East only committed 10 turnovers.

South stunk against Orchard Park, dropping a 74-48, non-leaguer last Wednesday at OP.

"We could not have been any flatter or uninspired if we tried," said Monaco.

OP scored the first six points of the game and went ahead, 27-15, after the first quarter. South cut into OP's lead in the last four minutes of the second quarter, trapping the Quakers all over the place and outscoring them 17-4 to trail 38-33 by halftime.

Monaco thought the late first half surge would carry over into the second half and it didn't. OP scored the first 10 points of the third quarter.

South cut it to five but OP bumped the lead up to 15. They were up, 58-42, after the third quarter.

"OP beat us but we let them beat us," said Monaco. "We did not fight back."

South shot 7 of 20 threes but 7 of 35 twos. In addition, they only made 13 of 26 free throws.

Coppola led South with 14 points and five assists. Licata added 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting from threes. Stasiak had nine points and six rebounds.

South had won 10 of its last 12 games coming into the Orchard Park game.

East and South returned to action on Tuesday in non-league games against great teams. East hosted Williamsville North (second in ECIC I) and South hosted Depew (ECIC III champions). Results of both games were unavailable before The Bee went to press. Each closes out the regular season portion of its schedule on the road on Thursday. East plays at Iroquois and South plays at Lake Shore. Both are 7:30 p.m. tip-offs.